Education International (EI) and the Foundation of EI’s affiliate in Germany the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft have signed a partnership agreement, the Foundation giving responsibility to EI for projects to promote the right to education and to eradicate child labour. Under the agreement with the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW) Fair Childhood Foundation, EI will identify, coordinate and support the implementation of education union projects financed by the Foundation to support education and eradicate child labour. The agreement was signed on 17 October by EI General Secretary David Edwards and GEW President Marlis Tepe.

Lenzing plans to invest around €100 million in sustainable manufacturing technologies and production facilities by 2022. The Lenzing Group has outlined its sustainable manufacturing technologies investment strategy for the coming years in its latest annual report. The Austrian fibre producer claims to have "developed well” in the 2018 financial year in spite of a "significantly more challenging market environment,” due in no small part to lower selling prices for standard viscose along with higher raw material and energy costs.

The Estee Lauder Companies has announced additional Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals in a bid to advance its legacy of responsible corporate citizenship. The goals comprise actions on responsible sourcing of ingredients, including a target of 90 percent of palm-based ingredients to be certified sustainable; building upon its net-zero carbon emissions commitment to reduce emissions; and pledging that 75 to 100 percent of packaging will be recyclable, refillable, reusable, recycled or recoverable by 2025.

Many of the nation's largest retailers have made commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, a decision that could lead to savings on energy expenses. A recent report by the Carbon Disclosure Project estimated suppliers saved $19.3 billion annually as a result of emission reduction efforts.

FoodTech startup Inspecto has developed a portable scanner that detects chemical contamination in food in real-time, expected to be commercially available in 2020. The device, called Inspecto, can detect contaminants at concentration levels as required by regulators, guaranteeing traceability and complete transparency. The scan can be conducted outdoors or indoors, anytime to ensure responsible sourcing.

The governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana have released action plans to support industry efforts to end cocoa-related deforestation. The plans include three strategic pillars covering forest protection and restoration, sustainable cocoa production and community engagement and have been developed to strengthen transparency and accountability in the cocoa supply chain.

Schneider Electric, a leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, has been recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing ethical business standards. It is the ninth year that Schneider Electric has received this accolade, proving the group’s long-term commitment to ethical business in all respects, a company statement said.

UK supermarkets including Aldi, Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose & Partners have joined together as Founding Sponsors of the Responsible Recruitment Toolkit (RRT) to offer expert, pragmatic support to their suppliers in order to achieve responsible recruitment in their supply chains. Recruitment and labour provision have been identified as presenting amongst the greatest worker exploitation risks in supply chains. In response, leading UK supermarkets have taken proactive action to collaborate as Founding Sponsors of ResponsibleRecruitmentToolkit.org, the pioneering one-stop, practical capacity building tool supporting businesses to embed responsible recruitment practices in their supply chains.

CMA CGM will test a new biofuel on one of its container vessels on March 19 in a partnership with the Port of Rotterdam, the GoodShipping Program and Ikea Transport & Logistics Services, according to a press release. The company release did not specify what the next steps are after the test. The new fuel is expected to reduce "well-to-propeller" CO2 emissions by 80-90% and doesn't require any engine modifications.

Washington State lawmakers are considering a hardline measure that would force companies to take responsibility for plastic waste or forgo using it at all. The bill would require some companies to join a plastic packaging stewardship organization by 2022 or be forced to refrain from using packaging made in whole or in part from plastics, The Daily Intake reports. The legislation would apply to “producers of plastic packaging,” which are specifically defined as companies that have legal ownership of the brand using or applying plastic packaging, are the first importers of the product into the state, sell a retail product that bears plastic packaging, or otherwise assumes responsibility for the product.

EcoVadis's insight:

Companies that use plastics have a key role to play in changing this unsustainable dynamic. The pressure is not just coming from consumers but also from investors who are demanding firms to reduce their use of plastic packaging. The governments are also acting in this process by signing up environmental campaign and setting up new legislation for instance Washington.

Over 14 million disposable coffee cups are used every day in the UK, with just 1% being recycled. CupClub is the world’s first returnable packaging service for drinks that utilizes RFID technology and cloud-based IoT software to provide complete supply chain traceability to brands and retailers, making drinking coffee on-the-go more sustainable.

EcoVadis's insight:

A large number of companies are already making great progress to better manage their use of plastics, which is an encouraging start. The problem is that collection and recycling systems around the world are failing to keep up with the ever-increasing volume of plastic bottles being sold. It’s estimated that by 2050, the ocean will contain more plastic (by weight) than fish unless drastic measures are put in place globally to stop rubbish leaking into the ocean.

The European Commission has concluded that palm oil cultivation results in excessive deforestation and its use in transport fuel should be phased out, setting the bloc on a collision course with major palm oil producers Malaysia and Indonesia. The Commission published its criteria on Wednesday for determining what crops cause environmental harm, part of a new EU law to boost the share of renewable energy to 32 percent by 2030 and determine what are appropriate renewable sources. The use of more harmful biofuel feedstocks will be capped at 2019 levels until 2023 and reduced to zero by 2030.

Ben & Jerry's is to cut single-use plastic from its 600 Scoop Shops. In early 2019 the company will remove plastic straws and spoons from its stores. Ben & Jerry's also plans to address plastic cups and lids used to serve ice cream by the end of 2020. Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops currently hand out 2.5 million plastic straws a year, and 30 million plastic spoons. Global sustainability manager Jenna Evans is leading the transition. "We're not going to recycle our way out of this problem," she said. "We, and the rest of the world, need to get out of single-use plastic." The transition began in August 2018 when Scoop Shops made plastic straws available by request only. Many Scoop Shops had already turned to plastic alternatives by this time.

With the goal of ensuring organic cotton supply chain transparency and integrity, Haelixa has developed a solution to trace cotton fibers along the entire supply chain. The technology has been validated in real-life operational environment and scale. Among the various initiatives that Haelixa is joining to foster transparency in the industry, the company took part in a pioneering new project, called the Organic Cotton Traceability Pilot. The pilot which started in Q4 2018, is testing the combination of cutting-edge technologies including physical in-product markers and blockchain to trace organic cotton through its value chain.

EcoVadis's insight:

Consumers are demanding deeper insights and greater involvement: Today’s consumers are well informed, which requires companies to maintain transparency.

Advanced material technology company Primaloft has announced that its Primaloft Bio fibres are now renewable in a circular economy, after third-party testing proved the polyester fibres were capable of being chemically recycled.

Australian fashion brands are using factories that exploit workers, a report released this month claims. Some clothing brands are using workers in Bangladesh and Vietnam that are paid as little as 55 cents a hour.Oxfam Australia has rated Australian retailers efforts to improve worker poverty in their supply chains.

In 2018, searches for “sustainable fashion” increased by 66%, while for more specific items, like “sustainable denim” the surge was even higher, with page views up by 187%. Lyst’s research suggests that consumers are being more aware and careful about what they purchase, with customers searching for keywords like “ethical brands”, “econyl” and “organic cotton”.

Global fashion search platform Lyst has released a new report based on the online shopping behaviour of 80 million shoppers over 12 months that shows there’s been a 66 per cent increase in searches based around sustainable fashion. Search terms were tracked more than 100 million searches across 5 million fashion products from 12,000 designers which picked up search terms such as “ethical brands” and “vegan fashion” as well as a 16 per cent increase in searches for “organic cotton” compared to the previous 12 months.

A dairy firm is pledging to make its operations carbon-neutral from cow to supermarket by 2050, including more than 2,000 farms in the UK. This will require "radical changes" over the coming decades, including developing new technologies, the dairy co-operative, Arla Foods, said. It admitted the target was "ambitious", but said it was achievable.

Royal DSM, a global science-based company in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, announced today that it has set new science-based reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions. DSM has committed to reducing 30% of its greenhouse gas emissions from direct production and purchased energy in absolute terms by 2030 compared to 2016. DSM will decouple emissions from its growth through energy efficiency measures and sourcing more renewable electricity. As a complementary target, DSM will be purchasing 75% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030, with 41% already being renewable in 2018.

EcoVadis's insight:

Companies have a clear role to play in protecting our climate and ensuring that the transition to a low-carbon economy is smooth and prosperous.Many companies are making efforts into reducing their carbon footprints, making sure to mitigate climate change. To make sure these efforts actually help curbing climate change, a new trend is currently gaining momentum: science-based targets.

A report commissioned by ETI has investigated how business models are at the forefront of creating pressures on labour standards in global supply chains. The Business Schools of King’s College London and the University of Warwick find that aggressive price competition and a reliance on supplier sourcing models drive deteriorating standards. Meanwhile, the rise of fast and super-fast fashion compounds problems. As do ‘no-frills discounters’ in food retail. Against this backdrop, the report recommends changes across the business spectrum – at shareholder, consumer, competition and production levels.

Fast fashion retailer Primark's first ever line of women's jeans made from organic cotton will soon be available in the U.K. and European Union — selling for the equivalent of less than $20, according to a press release. These jeans fall under the retailer's "Primark Cares Initiative" under which the company has used fabric made from recycled polyester and water bottles. Katharine Stewart, ethical trade and environmental sustainability director at Primark, said the brand intends to eventually employ organic cotton "across our entire product range."

EcoVadis's insight:

More and more companies in the fashion industry are revamping their business models and improving their supply chains to reduce overall environmental impacts, improve social conditions in factories, etc. One would remember the tragedies of the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013, Bangladesh, where the victims were manufacturing clothes to be supplied to top fashion retail companies. Even when these top retail fashion companies did not own these suppliers, they were implicated in the investigations and suffered a negative association with their brands.

Tyson has started using DNA to trace beef from the ranch of origin to the restaurant or retailer where it is sold. This ability is currently only available for its Open Prairie brand beef, Kent Harrison, the vice president of marketing and premium programs at Tyson Fresh Meats, told Supply Chain Dive. It is using a process developed by IdentiGEN.

Businesses looking to secure public sector contracts will need to do more to help improve society, the UK government is set to announce. Ministers want firms to tackle issues like modern slavery and climate change. It is "morally right" for the UK to make certain demands of companies taking taxpayers' money, Cabinet Office minister David Lidington will say.

The food and beverage giant is designing containers with reuse in mind, prompting new ways of thinking about packaging, reverse logistics and KPIs. Loop, a new reusable packaging system, aims to reduce waste by enabling consumers and manufacturers to recycle packaging in an easy, seamless and efficient manner. Loop was founded by waste management company TerraCycle and several CPG companies, including Procter & Gamble and Nestlé.

EcoVadis's insight:

As the competition for resources is increasing,more companies are turning to recycling of products in order to reduce costs and drive growth.

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